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Richards, aged 53, has a record of sexual offending dating back to 1980 and was jailed in 2010 for flashing at two girls aged eight and nine in Newton Abbot.

He was put on the sex offenders' register at the time and made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which prohibited any unsupervised contact with children.

Richards, formerly of Haldon Road, Newton Abbot, but now of Pankhurst Rd, Torquay, admitted breaching the SOPO and failing to comply with the terms of the sex offenders register.

He was jailed for two years and three months by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order with even more stringent conditions.

The judge told him:"You breached the SOPO in an extremely serious way by initiating contact with a 13-year-old girl and engaging in conversation with her through a large number of messages.

Edwin Richards

"You indicated you would like to have sexual intercourse with her. You knew her age. You obtained her telephone number and spoke to her about what she called 'rude matters'.

"She was a vulnerable child with problems who was living in a care home. The breach was deliberate, repeated, and the contact was initiated by you.

"The probation report makes troubling reading. There is absolutely no remorse and no interest in what you have done."

Mr David Sapiecha, prosecuting, said Richards contacted the girl in November 2016 on Facebook using the name Eddie. There were 284 messages in all. He told her he wanted to put his hand down her knickers and have sex with her.

Police traced the calls back to Richards's phone but when they went to arrest him they found he had moved out without registering his new address.

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Richards contact with the girl was fantasy rather than reality and there was no chance of him travelling from Devon to Lancashire to meet her.

He said the breach of registration was a technicality because police knew how to find him at his fiancee's address in Torquay.